We all remember Seward’s Folly, the purchase of the
Alaska territory from Russia in 1867....what a great deal that was.
Secretary of State William Seward paid 7.2 million dollars for this vast
territory and few people in the United States could understand what use
this 586,000 acres could ever be for their country. And only one year
later, while Seward was visiting Sitka, he proclaimed that this land would
become a territory and then a state or even many states of our country.

The 40th
Congress made Alaska a customs district in 1867, but little else was
accomplished to create a civil structure within the area. President
Andrew Johnson had set up a military force of about 500 men to maintain
peace and order. From 1879 to 1884 the U.S. Navy effectively governed the
region, but most of the inhabitants lived in the coastal areas or in the
southern panhandle. Then in 1884, with the passage of the First Organic
Act, Alaska became a civil and judicial district and the territory
acquired its first judges.

By 1897 the Klondike
gold rush drew people to Alaska in large numbers. More than 30,000 people
came in the last decade of the nineteenth century as gold was discovered
in Dawson, Fairbanks and Ester. Mining, fishing, trapping, and mineral
production flourished and the economy started to develop. But much of the
development resulted in exploiting what resources Alaska had to offer and
the profits of these ventures went elsewhere.

Then during President
McKinley’s tenure, Congress put in place the means by which Alaska could
establish a proper civil government that could tax and build railroads and
thereby enhance commerce. But, the so called Alaska Syndicate that was
formed early in the 20th century by big money corporations such
as J. P. Morgan and others thwarted the creation of further self rule.

In 1912, during the
term of President Taft, Congress passed the Second Organic Act which gave
Alaska territorial status, provided for an elected legislature, but yet it
did not have sufficiently broad powers and all decisions still had to be
approved by Washington ...so much for states rights. But, it did
establish more effective control of the exploitation of Alaska’s
resources.

For many of the years
during the above periods, there was total neglect of this region...little
or no development and constant abuse of Alaska’s natural resources. Even
territorial status did little to improve conditions and population and
economic decline was a fact of life. World War II brought a temporary
growth of population and jobs with the influx of military into the state,
but then after the war it was back to business as usual. During the cold
war however, the rapid growth of military facilities throughout Alaska
brought about an enormous increase in population and economic growth.

In 1949 the Alaska
Statehood Committee launched a campaign which resulted in President
Eisenhower signing a bill granting statehood in 1958. From that period on
Alaska has had enormous economic growth with lumber, oil, seafood and
tourism. Alaska continues to depend on the presence of large numbers of
federal government jobs within the state.